NYC Mayor Wants to ‘Lock Up’ Baby Formula: Is He Going Too Far?

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg just unveiled a health initiative that he hopes will encourage new moms to breastfeed. The plan? Ask hospitals to treat formula like any other regulated substance, keeping it locked up and given out only under certain conditions.

According to the press release from the New York City Department of Health, the initiative is designed to “support a mother’s choice to breastfeed and limit the promotion of infant formula in their facilities which can interfere with that decision.”

When “Latch On NYC” goes into effect in September, hospitals that partake in the voluntary initiative will instruct nurses not to hand out formula unless there’s a medical need or unless moms specifically ask for it, and to sign out and account for all formula they DO dispense. The city also launched a subway and hospital poster campaign designed to showcase the benefits of breast milk (see image above).

“Human breast milk is best for babies and mothers,” says New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley in a statement. “When babies receive supplementary formula in the hospital or mothers receive promotional baby formula on hospital discharge it can impede the establishment of an adequate milk supply and can undermine women’s confidence in breastfeeding.”

Edward Mailloux, MD, a general pediatrician at Sanford Health in South Dakota, agrees that “breast milk is better,” for a variety of reasons, from being easier for babies to digest to boosting their immune systems. Breastfeeding is great for moms, too: It can help new mothers return to their pre-pregnancy weight sooner, and studies suggest it might lower their risk for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and type 2 diabetes. Indeed, the The American Association of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding (if possible) for about the first six months of a baby’s life, followed by in combination with food until at least 12 months. And the World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding for two years “and beyond.”

However, that doesn’t mean formula is “bad,” Dr. Mailloux says. “Formula is really the only alternative to breast milk as far as adequate nutrition,” he tells HealthySELF. “There are a lot of situations, unfortunately, where mothers cannot breastfeed, and they need a good alternative. It’s not bad; it’s just an alternative.”

While Dr. Mailloux feels that Bloomberg is “really trying to encourage healthy babies,” he thinks the policy could have the “extremely unfortunate” effect of making moms feel guilty or bad about using formula. “That’s not a message that we as pediatricians want to send mothers,” he says. “You shouldn’t feel bad if you can’t breastfeed,” he says, noting that his own 6-year-old daughter was adopted when she was two days old. “My wife couldn’t breastfeed, and there’s no reason to make her feel terrible about giving our baby formula,” he says.

Dr. Mailloux concedes that moms might be more tempted to try formula if it’s easily accessible. “If it’s in your home or in sight, you are probably more likely to use it,” he says. But he doesn’t think locking up formula is the best method for encouraging breastfeeding. “There’s no argument that breast milk has huge benefits, but if you want to encourage breastfeeding, there are lot of other things that need to be done,” he says. “For one, the workplace is a huge barrier to mothers breastfeeding, and that needs to be addressed. I talk to so many moms who switched to formula at one, two or four months, because they just can’t get it done at work.”

Despite challenges like these, Jill Wodnick, MA, a breastfeeding educator and Community Doula Coordinator for The Partnership for Maternal and Child Health of Northern N.J., thinks the policy is a step in the right direction. “This program is designed to make an immediate shift in the short- and long-term health outcomes for both mothers and babies,” she says. “Many new parents encounter significant challenges to exclusive breastfeeding in hospitals. Bravo to NYC’s Latch On!”

Wodnick agrees that American women still face barriers in lack of paid leave and inconsistent breastfeeding laws to normalize breast milk. But she still thinks breast is best for babies. “Babies are biologically set up for human milk … yet the last 50 years of American maternity care policies, including giving formula for no medical reasons, have had a damaging impact on the health of our nation,” she says.

Psychologist Diane Sanford, Ph.D., co-author of Life Will Never Be the Same: The Real Mom’s Postpartum Survival Guide, thinks the NYC initiative will help moms who want to breastfeed feel more encouraged and supported, but she is too is concerned that it will cause other moms shame and guilt if they choose to bottle-feed or are unable to breastfeed for some reason.

“Let’s make certain the choice to breast or bottle-feed stays with the person who deserves to make it — the mom,” she says. “Instead of a one-size-fits-all policy, let’s require nurses who care for new moms to support the mom’s choice, whatever she chooses.”